Press Releases

Let Our People Live

Just $21 a month to save a Jewish life in dire need

03/01/2018

Let Our People Live

IF NOT YOU, WHO?

Why is this Important on Passover

Jews have a celebrated tradition of helping other Jews — it’s a concept called “arevut,” which we translate at The Joint as having each other’s backs. On this holiday, when we remind each other to “Let all who are hungry come eat,” that responsibility is more resonant than ever as we recommit ourselves to aid Jews in need today.

This Passover, let those who are hungry, eat

Throughout history, Jews have proven that we are survivors. We are a strong community because we help each other, wherever in the world we are. Now the fate of our fellow Jews in the former Soviet Union is in your hands.

We don’t always have the opportunity to avert looming catastrophe before it strikes, but that’s the challenge in front of us now.

The poorest Jews in the world are part of us, and when one suffers, we all suffer. We have the chance to solve this now, and that’s why we’re asking you to take action with a generous gift that will help us continue our people’s tradition of saving Jewish lives.

The world’s poorest Jews are counting on you. Make a generous donation today. Together, we can end the suffering of our Jewish brothers and sisters.

Today, 102,000 Jews live a desperate life of hunger, in dire conditions and dilapidated apartments across the former Soviet Union (FSU), in countries like Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. Many are victims of the Holocaust and lived for decades under an oppressive communist regime that discriminated relentlessly against them. Despite it all, they were accomplished professionals — doctors, lawyers, scientists, and educators just like you — but today, they live in unthinkable poverty.

These Jews are all alone, barely surviving on minuscule government pensions as low as $2 per day. Often, they have to make the grim choice between heat and food. Most times, they give up meals or medicine just to get through the brutal winter. Many are bedridden and have no family. And, they live in a reality where no social safety net exists other than JDC. They are the poorest Jews in the world — and their lives are on the line.

With each day, life for these vulnerable Jews becomes more dismal. An already desperate situation is exacerbated by a volatile political and economic climate. Rampant inflation has made even life’s barest necessities cost-prohibitive. One carton of milk alone depletes a full day’s pension allowance.

We need your help now more than ever. Much of the funding available for this essential aid comes from Holocaust reparations grants from the Claims Conference, which are designated specifically for Holocaust survivors. But more than half of the impoverished Jews we help are not survivors, and their situation is increasingly desperate. As survivors pass on, the funds available to these communities will decline, which reduces our capacity to provide care for the other frail Jewish elderly who continue to live in dire conditions. While we also rely on steadfast support from Jewish Federations across North America, the needs of the world’s poorest Jews are so great, and so urgent, that we need you — today.

JOIN US TODAY IN THE LARGEST JEWISH HUMANITARIAN RELIEF EFFORT SINCE WWII.

There’s no time to lose and more work yet to be done. This past year, we rushed lifesaving relief to more than 100,000 of these desperately poor elderly Jews. Now, in this uniquely challenging time, we’re turning to you.

Together We Can Solve This

For a mere $21 a month — or $252 a year — you can provide food and medicine for one person in the former Soviet Union. For an additional $160, you can provide an elderly Jew who is alone, frail, and bedridden with compassionate care — help with cooking, cleaning, bathing, and other essential services needed to survive. Imagine the desperation they feel, the isolation they experience. It’s a modest investment to save the life of one of the world’s most vulnerable Jews living in shocking poverty.

About The Joint

The Joint Australia works locally on behalf of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). JDC is the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. JDC works in more than 70 countries and in Israel to alleviate hunger and hardship, rescue Jews in danger, create lasting connections to Jewish life, and provide immediate relief and long-term development support for victims of natural and man-made disasters.